Cafe de la Smash
by Lady Paprika
Summary: [AU] Cafe of Smash is quite the strange cafe. There are no menus, and customers are served drinks or food based on their server's impression of them. And on a rare white Christmas Eve, it would seem that this place is a cesspool for its inhabitants to pursue different ideas of love. For Toon Link, he must learn the art of being selfish. [ For Smash King24's Christmas Contest 2014 ]
1. Lavendar Milk

**Sorry about those of you who wanted to read _How to Spend a Week Out of Prison _(which was like... none of you, except for Tune who actually beta'd those chapters and is probably sick of hearing about that stupid idea anyways ahaha. Probably ripping her hair out too just knowing that I ended up not going with that idea). It just... really wasn't working for me no matter how many times I tried to conclude it or remix it into something else. Sometimes these things just happen and because I signed up for the contest and I really want to compete, I know I can't back down so I knew I had to put something. Might as well stick to what I know, eh? This is probably one of the most fluffiest, clichèd pieces I've ever written but I've been trying so hard to be different from the mold and it's clearly not working for me so this is me saying that this is _exactly_ what you think it is.**

**Romance. Check.**

**Cafe AU. Check.**

**I'm embarrassed to even write this because I usually strive to be different and I often pride myself on writing original things as of late yet here I am. The truth is that I've been reading a few of the contest entries so far (even beta'ing!) and they're so different and it's impossible to stand out for the sake of standing out which is the kind of angle I tried to use to selfishly approach this contest. So I'm not even going to bother trying if it's not working. I also feel like I've put too much time and effort and thought into this contest to _not_ submit something, so this is all I got and I hope it makes one of you smile. God knows I could use one of those.**

**A few things you ought to note: Everybody in this fic is humanized. That includes the pokemon, the characters from Poke-verse, Fox-verse, etc. Second of all, as this is an AU, and it's set in a world very much like ours. Of course, characters will retain certain aspects that we all know and love of our Smashers.**

**This series will function as a four-shot. Four one-shots revolving around four different couples in the same setting on the same day. The first is Jigglypuff/Pikachu.**

**Edit: Felt like I ought to put a clarification in the beginning (Thank you, AuraChannelerChris, for pointing that out) for those of you who may be confused, but Jillian Puff is Jigglypuff, and Kai Chu is Pikachu. I just didn't think using their actual names really seemed appropriate for the settings.**

**A thanks to MessengerOfDreams, the coolest, nicest guy ever and only had words of support for me despite the fact that I'm a literal mess right now, and Tune4Toons, an evil goddess who is hellbent on making my life miserable ever since she sparked the competitive fever within me. Both listened to me and encouraged me to put this out there, despite the fact that this will probably not turn out as good as I thought it would be in my head since I'm running on limited times.**

**(Also, the name of the cafe is a slight nod the SSB forum, Rancho de la Smash... I'm totally not creative when it comes to titles, couldn't you tell?)**

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><p>I could hardly believe I was here. I stole a glance toward Nana who had turned around to lock my car door. Her cheeks were flushed, but I was certain this was because she still hadn't gotten over the thrill of driving on her own. She'd only gotten her permit about a week ago, after all. I'd let her drive my car, since she'd been so keen on doing so. I smiled, despite the nervous butterflies. She couldn't know how badly my insides were currently squirming.<p>

We stood in front of Cafe de la Smash, and it was starting to snow. It was the first snowfall Smash City had in nearly a decade so it was a pretty big deal to loads of people. Since it had begun to snow on Christmas eve, people were saying that it was truly a white Christmas, but I hardly cared. I hated the cold. Give me a warm, sunny day any day. Usually, Smash City rarely dipped below fifty degrees Fahrenheit, so snow was definitely a miracle. I was banking on miracles today.

I checked my reflection in the tinted glass door. My make up looked immaculate, my hair in perfect curls. Not a single thing out of place. If only there was some way I could have lost weight in like, a day. But there was nothing to do about my weight. I swallowed, sucking my stomach in. God, I was tubby, but it wasn't for lack of trying. My parents were chubby, so I was too. And I comforted myself with the fact that most soprano singers were solidly built anyway.

"Are you going to stare the whole time?" Nana asked.

"This was a mistake," I said. I turned to leave but Nana grabbed my shoulders, preventing me from any escape.

"Oh no you don't! Jill, this is like, the third time you'll be backing out if you don't walk in. It's not like Kai's going to hate you for being at his workplace."

I sighed, looking at Nana. Though we were about four years apart, she was my best friend and knew how nervous and high-strung I got around Kai which was saying a lot since I was high-strung about everything. I honestly wondered how she didn't find me exhausting, being so grounded and calm as she was. "He didn't tell me he was working there. What if it seems like I'm stalking him?"

Nana rolled her eyes. "Stalking is a little harsh as a term. Anyway, we went over this already."

Right. We did.

I faced the door again. Beyond those doors, was Kai Chu my next door neighbor, my childhood friend, a person I'd grown up loathing only to eventually fall in love with. So all the romantic stories go, anyhow.

But I knew it would never be possible for Kai to return my feelings. In fact, I was about ninety-five percent sure. When Kai and I used to attend the same school together, he was always wildly popular due to the fact that he was really _really_ cute and had a sort of electrifying personality. For my part, I was...

...Well, I was fat, and if you watch the shows and movies today, you'd know that fat girls never get the guy of their dreams.

But by all means, Kai wasn't exactly a Prince Charming. True, he was really cute with his messy, brown hair, and his golden tanned skin, and his perpetually flushed cheeks and his black eyes that spoke of liquid electricity and that he was... okay, well I'm getting off topic, aren't I? The point is, when we were little, he was downright annoying up until I got accepted to Nintendo Art Academy, a private academy only five minutes away from Nintendo High School, the school _he_ attended. Our moms had forced us to play and do activities together, and Kai had found me boring since I was into princesses and frilly things. He was more into cars and racing. Throughout the times we attended the same school, he'd often ignored or made fun of me, which I hated up until we switched schools.

It was then that I started to miss him. A lot. I guess what people say about absence making the heart grow fonder was true in my case. I missed the way Kai teased me and the way he'd listen to me sing and the little things he knew about me.

It was because of that that I started walking home with Kai. Since our schools were pretty close together, and our homes were next to each other, our walk home took us on the same path. We exchanged stories. Kai would talk about the girls or the boys he was dating, or how he made it to the varsity track team; in turn I'd tell him about NAA and how I was one of the four singers to hit a high C note. I often sang some of my conversations to him too, and he didn't seem to mind it so much either the way my parents did.

But the fact remained that Kai and I were still in different worlds. I knew I couldn't keep loving him the way I did. Sooner or later, I had to confess.

So when I heard from Nana that she saw Kai working in Cafe de la Smash, I knew I had to get it over with. If I confessed, I'd have some closure and maybe I could move on to liking other guys.

I wasn't sure if I was ready to say goodbye to Kai yet, which was why I was so nervous. My fingers went numb just from thinking about it.

"You can do this," Nana said, breaking my thoughts. She slipped a hand into mine, and squeezed it. Her voice was encouraging, as if she was reading my mind.

I smiled at her, squeezing her hand back. She was right. I _could_ do this. I took a deep breath and opened the door. A faint tinkle announced our arrival and the smell of coffee, cinnamon and peppermint assailed my nose. Nana gave me a thumbs up, and scooted off leaving me to wonder about the cafe. The place was small, with tiny wooden tables seating up to four people scattered everywhere. In the back there was a bar, with high chairs. On the ceiling hung multicolored Christmas lights, and in the corner was a small Christmas tree decorated with interesting ornaments. On the top, instead of an angel, there seemed to be some sort of man-fairy that shimmered in rainbow colors when the light hit it. Huh. Interesting.

A boy about the same age as Nana suddenly appeared in my vision. He had side-swept blond hair, dark brown eyes and a calm smile. "Welcome to the Cafe de la Smash. My name is Fortune, but you can call me Toon."

"Fortune?" I couldn't help but ask. "That's an interesting name."

He wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, my mom was loony when she named me. So where can I seat you?"

I stared at him for a moment. I could cop out now and ask him to serve me and never confess to Kai. I could...

"Um," I said. "Actually, I was wondering if... uh, who are your servers today?"

Toon raised an eyebrow. "Are you looking for somebody?" Hesitantly, I looked past Toon to see if Kai was around. There weren't that many people in the cafe today, it being Christmas Eve and all. In one corner, I spotted a girl in a scarf who was talking to a guy that looked a _lot_ like Toon, only about twenty years older. It was probably his dad. "You _are_ looking for somebody," Toon said, interrupting my thoughts. "Aren't you?"

I went a deep red.

"You are," Toon decided, a smirk on his face. "I can set you up with him or her if you'd like. Come on, who is it?"

"K-kai. Kai Chu." I wasn't sure why I was so damn nervous even saying his name. I'd said Kai's name so many times before.

"Oh, him! Quite the heartbreaker, isn't he? Loads of girls are always saying how cute he is," Toon said. "But I can get him for you, if you'd like."

My heart twisted at that, but I nodded. "Just don't let him know I'm asking for him... If you could?" Heartbreaker. Yeah, that's what my mom had said about him when we first moved in. _Ooh, that little boy Kai, he's going to be a heartbreaker someday!_ For as along as I could remember, he'd always been cute since he was five, during his parents' messy divorce and even through our awkward years of puberty. Some things weren't fair.

He nodded, a discreet smile forming. "Cupid may as well be my middle name." He scampered off. I only had to wait for a few moments until I finally saw Kai appear, unaware that I was here. I had a few precious moments until he either hated me or things got awkward between us so I tried to encapsulate my final moments with him before I severed things off with him for good.

"Hi, I'm Kai Chu and I'll be your waiter for Cafe de la Smash... Jilly?" he said, his eyes going wide at seeing me. Most people call me Jill or Jillian which is my full name, but as kids Kai called me Jilly. As we grew up, he eventually shortened it to Jill but sometimes he said Jilly and I couldn't help but grow warm at the thought. It was like he cared enough to spend more than one syllable on me.

"Hey Kai," I said. "I didn't know you worked here!" Liar, liar pants on _fire, _Jill.

I wasn't sure he believed me, but the look he gave me now suggested he wished I wasn't here. "Yeah, well I do."

Oh man, I could already tell he wasn't happy to see me here. I wondered why. "Uh, so why'd you get a job, huh?"

A smile still plastered on his face, he said, "Why do people get jobs, Jill?"

I flushed a deep red. I couldn't understand why he was being such a jerk. He was acting like his ten-year old self, which was to say he was being an absolute _brat. _I filled my lungs with breath and sang, _"Don't be a jerk, Samus, don't be so cruel to me._"

I watched his face relax into a smile. He recognized that song by The Metroids, a super popular band. "_I know you're stupid Adam__, I know it's sad_," he sang back, making me frown. He chuckled at my expression. "All right, sorry. Old habits die hard. You're too easy to tease." He ran a hand through his already messy hair. "Stay. I'll get you something to drink."

"Shouldn't I order first?"

Kai shook his head. "Don't you know how this place works? It's different from usual cafes."

"No? How is it different?"

He sighed. "Well, for one there are no menus there."

"Uh... But it's a cafe," I said stupidly. "How are you supposed to order something?"

"Well, you don't. The waiter orders _for you_."

"I'm having trouble following this."

Kai smiled. "That's the reason why people go there. The waiter makes you a drink or a dessert based on how they see you. Get it? I'd imagine if they didn't like you, they'd serve you something bitter... but imagine if they did? I expect they'd make you something wonderful."

"Is that a threat?" I asked. "Does that mean I have to start being nice to you so I can get something tasty?"

Kai's smile turned into a sinister grin. "Maybe. But give me some time. I had two other people ahead of you. Take a seat wherever you'd like."

"Sure," I said. "Um." But I didn't know what else to say.

"What?" Kai said, turning around again.

_Now or never, Jill,_ I told myself sternly. I stole a glance at Nana who was talking to Toon. "Well, just that I'd like to talk to you."

"That's not a problem," Kai said. "My break's soon anyway, so as soon as I get you your drink, we can catch up. You must've really missed me, eh?"

I choked out a laugh that was supposed to be derisive, but probably sounded deranged. Smooth, Jill. "Hardly." _You have no idea._

I took a seat at one of the high chairs by the bar and observed the cafe. The girl in the scarf was now drinking from a tall, ornate glass whose rim was in gold. Its contents contained some sort of fizzy beverage that looked clear at first, but toward the bottom of the glass turned into a smoky red. At the lip of the glass was a slice of some sort of fruit with orange innards and red skin wedged in.

For awhile, I watched Kai serve some sort of pink tea to very fashionable woman dressed in pink and who dressed up in a poofy skirt. Her blonde hair was so voluminous, I swore it could've added two more inches to her height. She drank it, and proclaimed to Kai in a very high-pitched voice that it was delicious. He bowed, looking pleased with himself before moving onto the next customer.

Waiting only exacerbated the stress I was feeling. I started tracing patterns on the rough, wooden surface of the table, but after I got a splinter on my index finger, I stopped. I felt like Kai was being deliberately slow to torture me, so I started humming softly to myself.

Singing is practically my life. I don't know where I'd be without it. I'm not a particularly gifted student or athletic or good at anything. But once I begin to sing, I calm myself down. I swear, sometimes as children, I could even put Kai to sleep singing nursery rhymes. I could put myself to sleep, if I wanted to. Mom told me loads of times that she was happy I could sing; there had to be one part of me that should've been my saving grace. And I kind of had to agree with her.

Before I realized it, I'd started singing "Silent Night" which was weird because I hardly cared about Christmas. I mean, don't get me wrong. We had a tree at home, and there were presents underneath that tree. But it wasn't like we went to Mass or Church. Christmas was just an excuse for my family to buy each other stuff.

By the time I was finishing "Silent Night" Kai had finished serving hot chocolate to a little boy. Only this hot chocolate was topped with fudge, whipped cream, and marshmallows all artfully arranged.

"Did you come here to show off?" Kai asked, as I ended the last mournful notes of the song. He was standing on the other side of the counter, his face only a foot and a half away from mine.

I was startled, but I still managed to say, "Depends. Did I pull it off?" It was incredible how I was able to keep firing back a response at this kid.

Kai shrugged. "Well, it didn't shatter a window."

I shoved him away. "Get outta here."

He laughed, nearly stumbling into a coffeemaker behind him. "So what do you want, huh?"

"I don't know, what would you give me?"

Kai scrubbed his face with both hands, groaning, "Don't make my life hard."

But now I was curious. I wanted to know how Kai saw me. "It's just me, Kai," I said.

He peeked at me through his fingers. "_Just_ you?" Suddenly, he looked a little nervous. He turned around and grabbed a glass. I watched his back, and then he said, "I know it doesn't look like it, but Smash is pretty busy throughout the year. Wanna know why?"

"Even if I didn't, you'd tell me anyway."

He ignored that jab. "People always want to know how they're perceived through the lens of a stranger. Who knows why. We're servers, not wise people. We have very little to go off of, aside from first impressions so more often than not, what we serve isn't entirely accurate."

I couldn't see what he was doing or how he was creating my drink. I couldn't even tell if he was making anything, since his back was hunched over.

"Like for example, hot chocolate for a kid is a no brainer. Kids love hot chocolate, especially if they're stuffed with marshmallows. And that lady I served tea to? She wears pink, which is why I served her the Kashmiri Chai. These drinks we make only scratch the surface of the people we serve. But when done right," he said as he turned around, a steel glass in his hands. "A bond forms between the server and the customer, because they've peered into their soul."

I could hardly breathe. I wasn't sure why, but as I grasped the cup, I felt Kai's fingers brush against mine and I felt a jolt of electricity shoot into my fingers, down my arms.

"Kai... I think..." This was it; this was where I was going to confess. Everything felt right. The words were lodged in my throat, bursting to get out.

_Kai, I've loved you for a very long time now..._

But the words died in my throat when I looked down and saw the drink.

It was milk.

Just milk. Boring, childish, stupid milk. A curl of steam from within it dissipated into the air.

_Milk?_

I stared up at Kai. To the lady in pink, he'd given her tea which had taken fifteen minutes. To that little boy, he'd given him hot chocolate which had to have taken some time as well.

Pure simple, heated up milk. "That's all?" I asked. I set the glass down.

"Jilly, are you okay?"

The way he said my name was no longer comforting to me. "Perfect," I said through gritted teeth.

Because really, it was one thing if Kai didn't return my feelings. After all, I'd waltzed in here expecting that. But it was quite another to be served _milk_ of all things. As if all I'd been worth and reduced to was just one single drink. "I must mean nothing to you, right?" I slid off the high chair.

And to think, I'd almost confessed to him too...! I couldn't tell where I was going, but I stumbled over a few chairs, knocking into the girl with the scarf. In the process, I accidentally knocked her drink into her lap.

"Oh no, it's fine," I heard her say, sarcasm written all over her tone. "I'll live."

"Sorry," I managed, but to my utmost horror, my voice cracked. God, this was embarrassing. "I'm so sorry." My voice was like shattered glass.

"Jillian!" I heard Kai call out, but I was almost to the door.

"Coming here was a mistake," I muttered to myself. I wrenched the doorknob open and headed out, but I'd only taken four steps out before I realized that it was snowing heavily by now. I cursed.

What were the odds that Smash City, a place where it hadn't snowed in ten years, would get its own tiny blizzard? I wished I'd paid more attention to the weather channel. I couldn't even go home anyway because I had to drop Nana home too. And driving in this weather was out of the question but I knew I couldn't go back in. I just couldn't face Kai or anyone else who had seen me knock over that poor woman's drink into her lap.

I was too damn theatrical for my own good. I felt the tears well up, but before they could fall, the door to the cafe opened. I swiped at my eyes furiously, not bothering to look at the person who'd come through the door. I knew it had to be Kai.

And it was. In his hands he had the cup of milk. "Come inside, Jill. You'll freeze out here."

"Go away, Kai," I said. My voice now sounded screechy beyond repair. I vowed to never fall for anyone again; my voice sounded awful.

"Why are you so upset?"

I finally turned to face him, but I felt stupid for saying what was on my mind. Admitting that I cared enough to be so hurt and offended by what he just served me sounded bad, even in my head. I was the selfish one, not him.

But I also realized that he had a right to know. I sighed. Mentally, I kissed our friendship goodbye. Perhaps later on, I'd sing a song appropriate for a funeral.

"Getting just milk from you stung a little, Kai. Because... I think of you a lot. And I guess I expected that you thought about me a lot too. But your perception of me was... something so ordinary and easy to make like steamed milk, despite the fact that I really, really like you."

Kai was staring at me with a strange expression. "You think that I think you're ordinary?"

"I mean, I guess so. I suppose, next to you, it's hard to be otherwise. You're smart, athletic, and really popular and I'm..."

Kai thrust the cup out to me. "Drink it." It was a command, not a request.

"I'm not in the mood."

"Drink. It." Kai's expression had changed to one of extreme annoyance. "I didn't make this so that it would be wasted."

I rolled my eyes. Nice of him to add insult to the injury. I took the cup, thinking I'd already embarrassed myself enough anyway. I held the cup up to my lips and began to drink slowly. The milk was whole and thick and rich. But I was detecting a slight hint of something else as I drank it. I just couldn't tell what it was. It wasn't until I reached the end, that I noted a sprig of lavender at the very end, milk coating its purple petals. When I handed the cup back to Kai, he faced the snow. Smash City was slowly turning into a Winter Wonderland.

"I wasn't a nice person to you as a kid, Jilly. I never used to be, period. In fact... I used to find you really boring and stupid."

"Thanks," I muttered. I felt the milk I'd just drunk, settle inside my stomach.

"But what I hated most about you was the fact that you seemed to excel at something. You're a really good singer... and a lot of times, you could put me to sleep just by singing. I don't know if you remember, but it was probably the only time when we were kids that we actually got along. And I envied that it had to come from you which is why I made fun of you a lot. I was stupid back then." Still not looking at me, Kai took my hand and squeezed it, but I felt it all the way to my heart.

He continued, "I'm not as stupid now. I'm still kind of new to this job, and I didn't know what to serve you, but I served you warm lavender milk because it's supposed to make a person sleepy, and I remembered all those times where you made me fall asleep. This time, I wanted you to be the Sleeping Beauty. I'm sorry if it didn't come across with just milk. It probably wasn't very tactful of me. I care about you a lot."

I turned to face him, my eyes widening. Was this what I thought it was? Finally forced to acknowledge me, he turned to face me as well...

...And he started to laugh.

Confused, I asked, "What is it?" For one horrible second, I thought he'd tricked me with his words.

"I'm sorry, I just can't take you seriously, not with..." He brought his hand up to my cheek and kissed my upper lip, sending a bolt of electricity down to my toes. This was how a defibrillator had to feel. I felt his tongue swipe up, and then suddenly he drew apart, his cheeks even redder than normal. "The milk mustache was distracting."

"I could have sworn you kissed me," I said.

Kai shook his head, looking away from me. He had a slightly embarrassed smile etched on his face. "Nope. Just wiping the milk off."

"So... you don't like me?" I was grinning.

He tried to scoff, but that silly smile was still on his face. "Why would I like you?"

I could think of a million reasons why he wouldn't. I was normal. I was fat. I wasn't good in school. I was boring. I was sensitive and high-strung, and my breath was about to start smelling like sour milk. But right now, those things seemed irrelevant. My heart was singing, but I shrugged. "Touché." Coolly, I started toward the door, but I'd only gotten one step inside before Kai grabbed my hand, his fingers interlocking with mine. He squeezed my hand, and kissed me on the cheek. Such open displays of affection really made my cheeks burn, but I didn't care.

I turned around to get one last glimpse outside, before the door shut completely.

Maybe a white Christmas did produce miracles.

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><p><strong>Omg, ALL THE CLICHE FLUFF LOLOL<strong>

**Why Jigglypuff and Pikachu? Well, I always wrote this with the mindset of having Jigs in, but apparently Jigglypuff and Pikachu (I was actually originally planning on using Greninja or Lucario bc they both look super cool, and blue, according to Tune seems to be a popular color, but I have my reasons for not using 'em) can breed together, since they both are in the fairy egg category and can breed. THEY CAN HAVE BABIES... assuming these two make it that far into the relationship. Who knows?**

**Can anybody guess who the next chapter will be focused on? I did introduce him/her somewhat in this chapter.**

**This chapter has been fixed of hopefully all the evil comma horrors I've inflicted upon this story.**

**Well, until next time!**


	2. Passionfruit Soda

**To the Guest who requested a Shulk x Rosalina pairing, I feel I must apologize. I can't do that pairing, because:**

**A) I do not know much about Shulk aside from the "I'm really feelin' it!" shtick he's got going on and I wouldn't feel comfortable writing about him when I know next to nothing about him.**

**B) I already have the couples picked out for this four-shot.**

**I did add something in just for you. ****I do hope this does not detract you from reading the rest of the story though.**

**Thank you for the reviews and the follows/favs/hits!**

**Had to change the rating to a T due to use of one F-bomb. Whoops.**

**Considering I don't celebrate Christmas, this is literally my interpretation of the Christmas theme, lol. Though I still love the holidays.**

**Next up, we have Sheik/Link!**

**Edit: Thank you so much to Anon Dropping In for your information. I apologize for mischaracterizing such an amazing character and have reworked his bit in a little to make him seem a little more in-character. His part was way too OOC to leave in like that and I agree - It's quite a shame to have him reduced to such a... flamboyant line.**

**Luke Arrior = Lucario.**

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><p>Don't get me wrong, I actually really love winter. Growing up in Smash City was awful because the place was hot for three-quarters of the year and mild for the rest of the year. So I was absolutely enthralled when I heard that not only would it be snowing, but there would be a huge blizzard. It reminded me of my old town, Kakariko, which actually had a proper hot summer, a green spring, an orange fall, and a winter full of snow.<p>

What I had a problem with was the way people constantly shoved _Christmas_ down my throat. In Smash City, everybody took Christmas seriously, and I had to admit, the decorations were pretty. But it could get a little overwhelming, especially if you didn't celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever other holidays existed during the winter holidays. It was almost weird in a way how much I knew about Christianity; I didn't even practice it. I probably knew more about it than my own religion, at the way I was going.

Still, I had to appreciate Smash City. It boasted one of the largest, successful universities which was where I was going to law school in. And because the city was really big and diverse in terms of population, I knew that once I got out of school, the job opportunities for me were endless. But as of now, I knew I had to concentrate on my studies. I'd be damned if I flunked out of school in my third year and had to return home shamefully to my parents. I'd be damned if I returned at all, to be honest.

Yeah, you could say that I had a love/hate relationship with this city. There was just so much to do around these parts and I'd made so many friends here for the past three years...

...Friends who promptly had abandoned me once the holidays began. My two best friends Luke Arrior and Rosalina Lumas had gone out for the holidays. Rosalina was spending until New Years at a Ski Resort with her newly acquired boyfriend, Shulk. I wasn't sure what he'd be doing there though; he was always kind of a bookworm. I was almost sure that the plan had been entirely Rosalina's. I appreciated her mothering sometimes, but it could become a real problem whenever she ended up forcing others to do what she liked.

Luke had said he'd gone up to the mountains on what he claimed was some sort of aura training. Luke had always been into some spiritual warrior type training. If he had a choice, I would swear the dude would live amongst wolves or jackals. I couldn't fathom how he'd made it to graduate school. He just didn't seem the type, and yet he somehow managed to surpass us all.

But if I were to be perfectly honest, I was kind of glad they left me behind because if they hadn't I don't think I would've stumbled across this sweet little cafe between Magicant Avenue and Jungle Japes Street. Its title was quite boring; Cafe de la Smash (Cafe of the Smash, really? Nothing more creative than that?) but the place itself was quirky and the staff were too.

Additionally, the _waiters_ ordered for you based on their first impressions. Weird, huh? Except most of the servers there were pretty good at guessing what their customers wanted. In the two weeks that I'd visited, nearly three-quarters of the customers were actually happy about what they were served.

On my first visit though, I'd been part of the twenty-five percent who hadn't been happy with what I'd been served. And that's probably because _Link_ was my waiter.

Ah, Link, the shameless flirt. But to be fair, I'd started it when he came by to announce he'd be my waiter. I noticed that the hair on his temples were going gray and he had a five o'clock shadow. Faint frown lines stood out on his forehead. Even if I found him handsome I had to guess that he was probably ten years my senior. I noticed the earring on his strangely, pointed ear and decided to comment on it. Hey, I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to strike up a conversation with a cute guy even if he looked significantly older than me. "I see you've already had your midlife crisis."

He had looked surprised that I even said anything at all. It's funny how my appearance does that. Just because I wear a hijab, people automatically assume that I don't have any sort of voice with me. I admit, I enjoyed the way his eyebrows shot up, and then he smiled uncertainly. "My midlife...?"

"The earring?" I tapped my own ear through the scarf. "Didn't peg you for a person to get piercings."

I practically saw the lightbulb suddenly click over his head once he realized what I was talking about. He chuckled slightly. "Well, to be honest, I only got it so people would comment on it."

I smirked. "Oh yeah? So it's an icebreaker, then? Are you saying people find you boring otherwise?" I tapped a fingernail against the wooden surface of the table I sat at.

"Do you think I'm boring?"

I tutted. "So far I'm not impressed." But I actually was. Most people couldn't keep up or stand my sass. Rosalina often ignored my comebacks because she didn't want to deal with me, and Luke would quietly tell me to shut up because he said he couldn't think with my incessant chatter. Talk about calling the kettle black though; when Luke really wanted to tell a story (which wasn't often to be fair), it became a conquest of long proportions. When I say long, I mean it became a freakin' saga. I'd need an unlimited supply of bathroom breaks and a lifetime of therapy if I ever managed to sit through one of them.

But Link seemed amused. "A girl who's hard to impress. I like that. Can I get a name? Or something to drink?"

He liked that. Internally, I had swooned. I hadn't had a date in over two years. It's not that I'm unattractive, it's the scarf that turns people off. Since I cover up, people automatically assume I'm off limits but I'm actually not super religious at all. To be honest, the reason I started wearing the hijab was not because I wanted to be modest; I did it because I wanted people to know right off the bat I was Muslim. I hated having people assume I was just another white girl, which Smash City had plenty of. Before I'd worn it, people automatically assumed I was white because my hair was blonde. As if Arabs couldn't have blonde hair. Sheesh.

"Zehra Sheikh." I pronounce it like, 'Shaykh.' "But everyone calls me Sheik."

"Is it because you're a chic dresser?" He gestured to the way I'd loosely draped my scarf.

Chic. Sheik. I had rolled my eyes at his terrible pun. "Ha-ha, I haven't heard that one before. So are you getting me a drink or what?"

"Pushy too," Link had said but he was smiling so I knew I'd gotten away with it. He rushed off.

The cafe itself wasn't anything to brag about; it looked simple enough. But I quickly realized that I was probably going to come back, if not for the quirk of the place, but for Link as well. I'd found him easy to talk to, and I saw some potential there.

By the time Link had come back, he'd gotten me some kind of strawberry soda, with slices of strawberries heaped at the bottom to give it even more flavoring. It looked absolutely scrumptious, only... "I can't drink this."

I saw Link's eyebrows furrow. He reached for the beautiful drink. "Oh, sorry. Um, I'm not familiar with your culture so I didn't know... I mean I'd thought that you guys kept off pork and alcohol but..."

My smile froze on my face. Link was really sweet, but incredibly stupid. "It's not a religion thing," I said. "I'm allergic to strawberries."

I had to delight in how uncomfortable I was making him. He blanched at my response, so I had to add, "You know, for a cafe that talks about how much they know the customer, you almost could've killed me."

He bowed. "Well, it's an uncommon allergy. But I suppose it ought to be protocol we ask for food allergies or any foods that are off-limits. Sorry, Miss Sheikh."

"Sheik. And I never got your name."

"I'm Link Avalon."

And after that I started coming in almost daily. I didn't have much to to otherwise. My parents at home begged me to come home, but I couldn't bear the thought of coming home at all. Kakariko itself wasn't the problem; I loved my hometown more than I liked Smash City. The appeal of living in a tight-knit community where I could speak Arabic freely since the population there was more filled with Arabs was a definite plus. But at the same time, I hated how limited people's attitudes there were. I knew if I were to come home, they'd comment on my appearance, and why I wasn't married yet. I wasn't about that life, so I made excuses to my parents, though I knew someday I'd have to return.

In the meantime, I'd told Rosalina and Luke about Link in group Skype calls that we held every few days.

"Is that so? And how old is this man?" Rosalina asked, one day, a few days before Christmas Eve. She was always the mature one, constantly mothering me around. Sometimes it got annoying, having to answer questions like this because I knew once I answered it, she'd hate me.

"Uh... I'm not sure," I said, scratching my chin. "Definitely mid-thirties."

"Woman, that's almost ten years older than you," Luke said.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do math," I shot back.

Rosalina sighed. "Well, he is rather old, darling. I'm sure you could pick out somebody your own age. What about that man, Reflet, from our school?"

I scowled. "No offense, Rosalina, but he's not that great. People keep talking about him, but I don't find him that impressive."

"What about Marth?" Luke asked. "His hair is _blue_, can you believe it? And he pulls it off rather nicely. Maybe I ought to dye my dreadlocks blue sometime... the color complements my aura..." He got a look in his eyes that suggested he was about to launch into some kind of spiel, so I decided to shift topics.

"Nobody can deny his appeal," I begrudged Luke. "He _is_ rather dreamy. But I don't know, I kind of always saw him with Ike."

"Ike?" Rosalina said, looking surprised. She went silent, thinking about it. "Actually, you're right. They do spend a lot of time and look incredibly adorable together."

"Right?" I said.

Luke pressed his lips into a firm line. "Oh hell naw. Look, no offense, but I am not about that life. We are _not_ talking about Marth and Ike together."

"It's really not that big of a deal, Luke," I said. "Why are you so against them?" I wanted to call him homophobic but I decided not to.

Luke rolled his eyes, but decided not to comment, instead mumbling something like, "Cliché... bluenets..."

"Anyway, darling," Rosalina said. "I've got tickets with Shulk to go to an opera. It'll be simply, grand, won't it, dear?" she said the last words louder to somebody else evidently in the room. We all waited for two minutes, but nothing happened. Rosalina sighed.

"He's excited," she assured us. "He's just off in his own world."

Luke and I made eye contact, and both of us resisted the urge to roll our eyes. Rosalina was doing the whole mothering thing again. Luke and I found them to be a strange pair since Shulk didn't even seem that interested in her from the start. I'd always wondered about how they'd managed to get together, but I'd never ask. Anyway, I wouldn't hold Rosalina against the way her relationship worked since I was already falling for a man who was nearly ten years older than me and who was probably wrong in every way for me.

I cleared my throat. "I'm going to sign out."

"You gonna be fine?" Luke asked.

I shrugged. "Yeah, why not?"

Rosalina said, "We don't want you to be alone on Christmas."

"Guys, I don't celebrate Christmas, remember? It's just going to be another normal day for me."

"Even still." Rosalina pressed. "And, I have a bad feeling about that Link person. I can't describe it really, but please don't pursue him."

I stared at her, unease suddenly taking root inside me. Rosalina wasn't a fortune-teller, but the way she spoke right now, made it seem like she was.

Luke shrugged. "Love is boring, so I'm on the same boat as Rosalina. The guy and the girl get together. Blah blah blah, it's the same shit over and over again. Not my thing."

I laughed. "You guys actually think I really care about him that much? Don't worry, I'm not going to get hurt. He's just somebody to flirt with."

Luke and Rosalina pursed their lips but didn't say anything more except their goodbyes before signing off.

Even they knew that he rapidly was turning into something more than somebody who I wanted to flirt with.

**...**

I held off for a few days going to Cafe de la Smash, but on Christmas Eve, I went. I wasn't sure why I did. Maybe it was because, despite the fact that I didn't celebrate Christmas, I still kind of felt lonely on that day. I'd never felt lonely before, but it was kind of like the same way I felt on Valentine's Day. I was never really aware of being single until couples were thrown in my face.

Everybody in this place was celebrating Christmas but me, and I felt like I was unwanted, cast aside. Christmas had been thrown at my face so much that I was finally caving in, crumbling into something I absolutely hated, which was a weak, slightly jealous person. I hated that feeling, and because of that, I caved. I knew Rosalina told me not to, but I went anyway, a book in my hands.

By the time I walked in, the place had been decorated with Christmas lights and there was even a tiny little tree in the corner. I took a seat in my usual spot. The place was quieter on this day. I supposed people were traveling out to see their families or spending time at home. I thought about calling my parents, but I cast that thought aside when Link sauntered up to my table. "Not-Strawberry girl," he said, pointing at me and grinning. "Missed your face for a few days. Why'd you stop coming in?"

"Your drinks were pretty bad. But there aren't a lot of places open on Christmas Eve, so I had no choice but to come back," I lied.

He knew I was lying; that's why he was still smiling at me. "Is that so? Didn't miss me?"

"Obviously not." I surveyed the room, in one corner I locked eyes with a chubby girl with curly strawberry blond curls, and the most luminous blue, expressive eyes. She looked nervous, waiting at the bar. Her eyes were trained on a cute, Chinese waiter. The story was pretty easy to predict there. She obviously liked him, but I wasn't so sure if he felt the same. My gaze drifted back to Link. "Why? Did you miss me?"

"Maybe."

Woah, so this wasn't banter anymore. I raised my eyebrows. Sorry Rosalina, sorry Luke. I think I was going after this one, no matter what they said. My loneliness forgotten, I smiled, and for the first time since I met him, I thought it was pretty genuine.

"Let me serve you."

"Make it quick!" I called back, though I had no place to go. I didn't know why I was so anxious to have him return. Maybe it was because Rosalina's and Luke's words about being alone on Christmas was getting to me. It was like I wasn't normal because I didn't have anybody around me. I returned to my book, a romantic comedy about two people stuck in different airports, trying to reunite just in time for the holidays, but I was growing restless so I started to people-watch. In another corner of the cafe, there was a girl in a pink parka who was anxiously watching the girl with the blue eyes. A friend to encourage her, perhaps?

I was just studying a woman in pink, who the cute Chinese waiter had served some Kashmiri chai, when Link came back with my order. It looked like Link had outdone himself this time. The glass itself was ornate, starting off slim at the bottom and gradually opening out at the top, kind of like a milkshake glass. The bottom was a smoky red but gradually, towards the top of the drink became clear, sparkling water. On the lip of the glass was a slice of passionfruit.

"Like it?" Link asked.

It was beautiful. "It's... nice. Thanks," I said. I cautiously took a sip. It was sweet, yet tangy. "I've never had passionfruit before."

"It's not really sold in grocery stores since it's a tropical fruit. I'm sure you'd find it in Kong Jungle, which was where this one was imported from. I hope you like it." He sounded like he meant it.

"Well, you look like you actually tried on this one," I said, allowing a smile to snake its way onto my face.

Link grinned. "You're kind of a jerk, you know?"

"I've been told."

"Is it genetic?"

"Being a jerk?" I asked. "Actually, I never used to be like this. This city is... not kind to people who look different from them. You either keep your head low and live with yourself, or you notice the place around you isn't home and you struggle to make it your home."

The girl with the luminous blue eyes and curly blonde hair began to sing "Silent Night." Her voice was lovely, but I was _so_ not in the mood. Link tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

I threw my hand out, gesturing at the cafe's decor. "Look at this place. It's full of Christmas. Outside, Christmas. Christmas is everywhere because most of the people here celebrate it."

"So what's wrong with a little bit of Christmas spirit?"

"Nothing. It's a great holiday. But for somebody who doesn't celebrate it, it makes me feel... well... like an outsider. I guess I am, in a sense. I don't feel like I really belong here."

Link took a seat opposite me. For the first time, he held a somber look on his face. "That's stupid."

I grew a little irritated at that. "How would you know? Have people ever looked or treated you differently based on the way you dressed? If I had a dime for every time somebody commented on this," I said, tugging at my headscarf, "I wouldn't need loans to get me through law school. If I had a penny for every time I sat fifteen minutes longer at a restaurant because a waiter didn't want to deal with me, I wouldn't need to pay rent for my apartment. If I had a nickel for every time a mother grabbed her children a little tighter the moment she looked at me, I could pay for groceries-"

"Okay, alright, sorry, I get it," he interrupted, placing a hand over mine. "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant, that I think you belong here."

I had to smile at that. Gone was the playful flirting, but he still sounded like he was flirting. "You've only known me for two weeks."

"So?" Link took his hand off mine, but I wished he'd left it on, despite the fact that he'd annoyed me. "You'll never hear me say that there's too much of Christmas around. This is my favorite time of the year. But I'm sorry you feel that way. It's not fair to somebody as smart, lovely, and capable as you."

I calmed down a little, touched at his words. I don't think I'd ever told anybody how I felt about being an outsider, and I was beyond relieved that he understood me, at least a little. I tried to clarify by adding, "It's just like... people say Christmas teaches people a lot of things, but you don't have to celebrate it to know that spending time with family is important, or that the act of giving is good. I was taught these values too, you know?"

Link folded his arms. "I'm sure you were. But I never thought Christmas was about _teaching_ kids how to be good. Rather, it's an excuse to enforce those values."

"But if you're forced to give gifts and spend time with family, then what happens to the actual good in doing these things?"

Link smiled too. "You just really hate Christmas, don't you? Are you sure you're name is Sheik and not the Grinch? I don't think we'll be getting along after all."

I snorted. But then, almost casually, I said, "You never know. We might. Go out with me, and maybe you'll find out."

Link froze, the smile still on his face. After a moment he said, "I'm flattered."

"You should be."

"I have a wife," he blurted.

Undeterred, I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right."

Wordlessly, Link rummaged into his apron pocket and turned out a wedding ring. He slid it across the table. It was a simple, gold wedding band. There were scratches around the edges. "I do," he said. "I'm sorry if I misled you." He had. "I usually keep my ring in my pocket so it doesn't get tarnished while I'm at work."

"You're married?" I said blankly.

Link's eyes looked sympathetic. "If I wasn't..."

I held a hand up. Rosalina was right. I shouldn't have walked into this beehive. "Don't you dare finish that sentence." I was so angry, but I wasn't sure if I was angrier at him or myself. My luck was just horrible, that had to be it, right?

"Sheik..."

"It's fine," I forced a smile on my face. "It's not a big deal." I wasn't interested in him much anyway.

Except, I was. I really was.

Damn, this hurt a lot more than I thought it would. "I'm sorry," he said again.

Which was like adding salt on the wound. I didn't want him to say that. The chubby girl was just finishing the last, long mournful bars of her song. Her voice made the chasm in my chest open up wider. The self-pity was almost a vacuum. "Why are you sorry? You were just trying to be nice to the customer. I'll live on without you." It wasn't a lie, I eventually would bounce back up once I got over the embarrassment of asking out a married man.

To be fair, he _had_ been sending me signals, but I wasn't about to pursue a married person. "Zehra," he said.

I wanted him to leave. "There are other people that probably need you to serve them."

I didn't want him to leave, but he gave me one last glance, and then left. Stupid Sheik. I stared at my passionfruit soda, so fancy a moment ago, now all muddled and opaque. I'd finish it and then go home. Alone.

But I couldn't even finish it because a second later, the chubby girl came barreling toward me, stumbling over tables and chairs, her face red. She accidentally slammed into my table, knocking over my drink into my lap.

This day couldn't get any better and I wanted her to know that, this girl who had sung a song that made me feel like I was the only person in the world, in a sea of humans. The fact that she hadn't even apologized yet bothered me too. "Oh no, it's fine," I said, sarcasm and anger injected at high levels in my voice. "I'll live."

I'd live, right?

Then I got a glimpse of her face. It was close to tears. She'd probably gotten her heart broken by that cute Chinese kid. Suddenly, I felt terrible. "Sorry. I'm so sorry," she gasped out, her voice horribly cracked. I wanted to ask her if everything was okay, but she was gone, the sound of wind chimes announcing her departure.

"Miss, do you need some napkins?" a voice nearby asked.

"Sure," I grumbled. "And a piano to drop over my head, to save myself some embarrassment." I turned up to look at the person who had asked me that question, and was rewarded by looking at what I could swear was Link twenty years ago.

Except this guy's eyes were black, which probably meant...

"Oh, no, he has a kid too," I said, mostly to myself, but I think Mini-Link heard it too.

"Are you talking about my dad?" he asked uncertainly. He handed me a few napkins.

I started cleaning myself. Like hell I'd tell him that I'd just asked his father out. I wasn't about to break up a marriage. "Yeah. Your dad served me. He's kind of... clumsy." It wasn't a total lie. Link had been clumsy in the way he'd handled our meetings.

Mini-Link chuckled. "Clumsy is an understatement. My dad's beyond clumsy. My mom used to tell him he had no common sense."

My stomach twisted, just thinking about the fact that he had a mom too. I briefly wondered what she was like. "Zero," I agreed, patting myself dry.

"He's pretty bad. But..." he said uncertainly. "He's good. I think. Don't get him in trouble or give up on him yet."

I looked up at Mini-Link, but he was gone. I sighed. Between Mini-Link and Rosalina's advice, I was definitely staying away from Link. I knew what was good for me. I left a tip on the table and walked outside. The snow had turned into a full-on blizzard, but I didn't care. I was going to brave the blizzard if it meant going home.

I tucked my book and wallet into my purse, and retrieved my cell phone, dialing a number. Rosalina had been right about one thing; I couldn't be alone on Christmas. I succumbed to the weakness, and for now, embraced it.

He picked up on the third ring. "Hey Luke, can you get Rosalina on the line?"

"Did something happen?"

I shrugged. "I just feel like talking. I don't want to be alone."

For once, Luke didn't say a word.

But as I gazed outside at the howling storm outside that was slowly transforming Smash City into one collective white, I couldn't help but think so bitterly:

Merry fucking Christmas.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I wouldn't expect any of you to know this, but the passionfruit flower was, in the past used by Spanish Christian missionaries to symbolize Christ's last days. Make of that as you will.<strong>

**Anybody with any guesses as to who the next couple is?**


	3. Kashmiri Chai

**To the Guest who asked who Luke Arrior was... For your OOC bit, sorry, I'm not very good at characterizing people at the expense of making a few things funny. At any rate, I don't think they picked a specific Lucario for Smash, so I think I'm justified in personifying him as the way he is. Lucarios can have different personalities so I think I'm justified with that. **

**To the other Guests, who made the comments about Sheik being Muslim, thank you. I always try making my characters diverse. I think that while Smash is full of a lot of diverse characters, we don't really play as much with them as we can. I've always tried picturing how the Smashers would be like in real life and I don't think it'd be too much of a stretch to imagine Sheik as Muslim since she covers up a lot of her face and hair (more so in Melee and OoT, but either way). Plus I'm Muslim too, so cheers to that.**

**TW: Suicide, mentions of cutting.**

**Next up, we have Link/Zelda!**

* * *

><p>"I see you've already had your midlife crisis," a young woman tells me, two weeks before Christmas Eve.<p>

It was hard to keep up with conversations nowadays. I spent so much of my time making short small talk that actually requiring thinking _to_ talk was something I had to work toward. "My midlife...?"

The woman has a scarf loosely draped around her head, a few wisps of fine blonde hair poking out and brown-red eyes that looked angry or intense most of the time. She taps at the place where her ear is supposed to be. "Your earring? Didn't peg you for a person to get piercings."

I touch my earring and I can't help but chuckle. In hindsight, I probably should have known what she was talking about. After all, when I first met you and asked you out, you also pointed it out, though rather scornfully. "Well, to be honest, I only got it so people would comment on it." Like you, Zelda.

"_Sorry_," you had said back then, _"That__ earring is too tacky for my standards." _And later on, when you'd see my tattoos on my forearms, you'd tell me to get them removed. I was too hooked on to you by then to refuse. I regretted about half the tattoos I'd gotten in my life anyway, but I refused to get the black tattoo between my shoulder blades removed, the one of the three triangles forming a bigger triangle. You seemed okay with that one.

I was always impulsive. Asking you out multiple times had been on impulse too, but I think you knew that when you eventually said yes, and then later on when we finally got married.

The woman in the scarf is talking again, and it's distracting me from thinking about you. "...Are you saying people find you boring?"

My first thought is to say yes, because fifteen years ago, I know I'd find the thirty-four year old version of me boring. I'm not sure why she is talking to me in the first place since she looks like she has a bunch of confidence and I'm barely there. But there's a challenge in this woman's eyes that asks me to keep up with her, that I could prolong this conversation if I want to. "Do you find me boring?"

I see her eyebrows lift a little. "So far I'm not impressed." I know she's lying. Maybe I can prevent what we've got going on here right then and there. I know you'd be furious if you found out I was just about to flirt with a woman. You wouldn't show it on your face. The saying, "revenge is a dish best served cold" applied to you. It was one of the of the things I really hated about you, but you knew that.

...Except, I couldn't help but think Sheik was at least a little like you. I know you'd hate being compared to her, and at first glance nobody would think like that in the slightest. You were always so polished, so graceful, so poised. These parts of you I would have problems with later on, when I got to know you more intimately. This woman seemed angry at the world, taking some sort of sick perversion in the fact that she was somehow different and alone. I wondered if I would have problems with it later on.

_Later on_. I am already thinking of a "later on" with her, despite the fact that I'm still maddeningly in love with you. Why was I thinking about another girl? One who looked almost ten years my junior.

I learn her name was Zehra Sheikh, which sounds exotic. I decide not to tell her that, thinking she'd somehow be offended by the word exotic. "But everybody calls me Sheik." I make up some dumb pun that she groans at. I find myself thinking that perhaps the pun makes me look endearing to her. We strike up a conversation after I serve her a strawberry soda, and she claims to be allergic to them. I was pretty rusty in the way I handled people, and it shows when I talk to Sheik, yet she still seems interested. I couldn't know why she was after my huge blunder. As manager, I should've asked her about food allergies or any food restrictions beforehand. I guess it was just the holiday season. The fact that it was snowing too, takes my breath away. Probably yours too. You told me you'd love nothing more than a white Christmas. You were so obsessed with that holiday, just like Fortune was. Heck, you got me into celebrating it properly too. It's why the cafe is decorated with the Christmas decor. I fell in love with Christmas because of you.

Almost belatedly, after the girl left and when I've had time to think, I think Zehra sounds kind of like your name.

**...**

The _real_ difference between an adult and a child is that adults are broken, scarred and corrupted. Children haven't had the chance to let that happen to them yet. I didn't know it back then, but I met you when you were an adult and I was just a child. I just didn't think so when I first saw you. Your demeanor suggested otherwise. You were beyond a princess in the way you carried yourself; you were a queen. What a beautiful lie that was, the way you carried yourself with such class and grace, like you were in control of everybody around you. It turned out that the only person you had control over, was I.

It made sense that you would. You were _so _different from my world; Me, a person who was going nowhere in life beyond Ordon once I finished with college in Smash City. I would help out at the farm, because that's what all Avalon boys in my family did. But the city offered too many exciting possibilities for me to go back. I covered my arms in tattoos, my first year there and got a lip and ear piercing. The second year, I removed them all for you. Five years into our marriage, you would say almost as an afterthought, "You know, I kind of liked the earring," and I'd put it back.

But if I were to look into the mirror now, the earring does, in fact look tacky for a man my age. A man with shadows under his eyes, who sports a five o'clock shadow more often than not, a man whose cheeks hollow out into something that signifies I actually might be getting older. I don't know why the hell I'm still wearing it, like I have been the moment I first laid eyes on you. Maybe it's for you, because it's getting harder and harder to hear your responses when I speak to you.

Do you still listen?

Because if you are, I want you to know that I'm sorry I can't be the person to save you but I'm trying so hard, baby. You have to know that.

**...**

I bring Fortune to the cafe with me now, mostly on Peach's orders. She tells me she don't want him to be home alone, even if he's kind of alone here anyway since I'm always so busy as the manager. But he's a great helper in the kitchens and gets along great with the customers and staff. I can't help but think of how much we searched for a name once we found out we were having a boy. You wanted to name him after me but I hated my name. "Link is so uninspiring."

You had giggled. "What is so uninspiring about a name that means to be connected, or to feel a bond?"

I still refused, but the moment you held him in your arms, exhausted beyond all belief from your labor, you knew. "His name is Fortune." I guess it mattered a lot to you that his name was Fortune because you'd gotten further in your life than you could have ever hoped and he symbolized that. You didn't have to tell me it; I just knew once I took off your clothes for the first time and noticed the thin-white crescent scars on your inner thighs. The only things I had to say about them was when I kissed them.

Maybe I should have said something.

**...**

I quickly learn that Sheik is not like you at all for the next two weeks. I don't know if I'm relieved by this or uncomfortable. Perhaps uncomfortable. Sheik seems to pile on the fire within her whenever she gets angrier and angrier, unlike you. You used to do that thing where you shut down completely whenever we got into arguments, which happened a lot more commonly during our last two years together. You growing silent and frosty was something I couldn't stand and I think you knew that.

But Sheik lets me know right away when she finds my behavior problematic, which is often. She calls the city white-washed, and tells me it's a privilege that I've never noticed the lack of diversity in Smash City. When I tell her we have one Chinese waiter we've recently hired, she says it doesn't matter, and that he's what she call a token member. It irritates me slightly when she tells me this stuff because it's not something I particularly care about, which she also says is a privilege.

She tells me other things too; about her beautiful, motherly, yet dreamy friend Rosalina Lumas and how she somehow ended up with a boyfriend who was almost at the top of their class, yet didn't seem very interested in her. "But she's worked on him since and he seems to care about her. Emphasis on seems."

I asked her why she seemed to disapprove of the relationship. "A lot of it has to do with how embarrassing it is to be stuck in the same room with them, but a little part of it is also about how unbalanced both of them are when it comes to how much they've changed since they've gotten together," she admitted. "Shulk seems to be doing all the changing, but Rosalina? Not so much." In theory, it made sense but I knew when she said that, that she'd never been in a relationship. If she had been, she'd know how difficult it was to grow together, rather than apart.

We'd know from experience, wouldn't we?

**...**

I noticed how fragile and small you were, when I curled around you. But the heat your body exuded came in droves. I don't think I've ever needed a heater ever since you started living with me.

I'm already getting sick of the cold. I want to smell the sunshine in your hair again, to smooth the brown of each individual strand back, and bury my fingers into it. I want to run my hand along your hip, hear you breathe out in a sharp gasp once you realize what I'm doing. I want to pin your arms down, trace the planes and dips in your neck and then squeeze down on your throat until you can't breathe anymore because seeing you choke is an act almost holier than sex itself and sometimes I really hate you for-

It's busy at the store. I miss you.

**...**

Sheik doesn't come for a few days. Unexpectedly, I miss her absence far more than I thought I would. The table that she usually sits at, furthest away from the Christmas tree I've laid out, is achingly empty. I spend some time thinking about that table, envisioning what we may have talked about if she came. I read up on Islam a little, just so I won't sound so obtuse then next time I speak to her. I realize we're wrong for each other in all the ways that society tells us are legitimate reasons we shouldn't pursue each other. Age, maturity, the fact that someday she'll probably be making more money than I am and therefore, would threaten my masculinity supposedly.

You claimed that money had never been an issue for you, but it always had been a big problem for me knowing that no matter how much money I made, I'd never be able to give you the comfort and luxury that your parents, ultra conservative _and_ wealthy individuals, did. It made me furious that they'd made you choose between them and I, but I was too selfish to tell you to choose them.

The fact that Sheik seems to loathe Christmas with a vengeance is the least of my concerns. I want to make her like it the same way you made me like it, but somehow it feels wrong, like I'd be taking away a huge part of her.

Sometimes Fortune - Toon, as he now prefers being called - catches me looking at her empty table and he has a scornful look in his eye that makes me shrink away from him. I can't bear looking at Toon sometimes; I see too much of myself into it and freakishly, he sometimes looks older than I did at his age. I loathe looking at him sometimes. I wish he looked more like you, but the only thing he seems to have inherited is the way he expresses his emotions. Which is to say, he doesn't at all. Maybe it's because I don't know how to talk to him, but I wish I did.

Sheik comes back during Christmas Eve, unexpectedly and throws me completely off guard when she asks me out, after she tells me that all she's ever felt since moving here was loneliness. But I tell her I'm married to you, taking your ring out, and I can see the wound I've inflicted in her eyes though she makes a valiant effort to mask it by acting nonchalant. Maybe I never did hold much of an impression on her after all. But I think she's doing that thing you did, never wanting to look weak.

I can't stand that look on her face, so I leave.

**...**

Toon narrows his eyes at me, once Sheik leaves. He has nothing to say to me, so naturally, I head to Peach, who is sipping Kashmiri chai like a proper lady, her legs crossed over one another. Peach has been there more for Toon than I'll ever be, which you're probably thankful for. I remember we argued long and hard about who was to be his godmother; I'd wanted my best friend Douglas Falcon, but you said his busy racing career would get in the way and argued instead for Peach, your best friend. I hadn't been happy with that decision back then because I always kind of considered Peach to be a busybody and a horrible gossip, but I said yes anyway, and maybe you were right. Somehow, she understands Toon better than I. I don't know when it became that way.

"You let her get away," Peach says, tutting, now when I take a seat opposite of her.

I'm still playing with my ring. "I had to."

"You don't have to do anything," Peach responds. She smacks her lips. "This is some excellent tea. Give that Chinese waiter of yours a raise. I'm sure he's responsible for half the teenage customers coming to your cafe. The fact that both boys _and_ girls find him attractive only doubles your customer count." As if to back up her claims, she passes the cup of tea to me.

I take a sip. It's lukewarm, but it's creamy. I can taste the sharpness of cinnamon, crushed pistachio, and cardamom. It's delicious in a warm, sweet, and sharp way all at once.

She must be referring to Kai. He'd come in, desperate for a job to help pay for expenses at home. I didn't know all the details, but I think his mother was going through a divorce that was costing a lot of money. "I'm manager here," I remind Peach, though I acknowledge that she's right. We pay our servers a lot more than normal waiters since their jobs are a lot more crucial to the restaurant.

"Yes, that seems to be the one thing you're doing right. A shoddy job on your actual life," Peach sniffs.

"You'd know," I say. This is why Peach and I can't get along. She's one of the most judgmental people I know, something even you knew when you befriended her. It drives me crazy.

Peach's watery eyes turn sympathetic. "It's been a year and a half, Link. Stop carrying that around," she says, nodding at the ring I'm still fiddling with.

"Why?" I still loved you.

Peach grows frustrated. "You don't think I loved Zelda too? She was my best friend. But I refuse to just sit around and mope."

"You don't know anything about us," I shoot back.

"I know enough to say this; you and I both know she wasn't the perfect little angel you keep making her out to be. And you have a life to lead. You have a son who's taking care of _you_ and internally resents you for it. How does that make you feel, knowing that the person you are responsible for taking care of, is taking care of you because you can't get it through your thick skull that she's dead, Link."

I'm glaring at her now, willing the intensity of my gaze to burn a hole through that insolent brain of hers but it doesn't. She returns my gaze, levelly, but with a challenge.

When she speaks again, her voice is less hard. It's soft, as soft as gentle snowfall. "It was her choice."

**...**

You succeeded on your sixth attempt. A car crash sent you to your final destination, and I was told you died on the spot. The only way they could prove the body was yours was by identifying the car, which we owned. You didn't even have your license on you. Your body was so ultimately broken to bits that when I was sent to identify your identity, all I saw was a lump of charred meat on the table. For weeks, I was in denial. I'd thought that wasn't really you, but it was. I should have been happy, but all I felt was exhausted, like I could finally go to sleep, like the nightmare of having you in our house was finally over.

But they never ended for me. Even after death you haunted me, controlled me. I traced your scars a thousand times in my sleep, willing the pain which was so unequivocally raw, to go away. You left a vacuum in your wake, a vacuum I didn't even attempt to fill because if I filled it, you'd be gone forever. For as much as I hated you, I never wanted to lose you. Isn't that the very definition of marriage?

I never thought of you as selfish until you left. I tried desperately to recall your last words to me, but all I could come up with was you reminding me to put a load of laundry into the dryer before I left for work. No tender, "I love yous" or "You mean the world to me." Nothing that would suggest you were getting worse with each attempt.

I'd been angry that you never said anything, but the real truth was that perhaps you _were_ talking to me each time you tried and I prevented you from doing so. I couldn't understand why you couldn't just be happy. You had Fortune in your life; you had me, Link. You had a close friend in Peach.

I searched for answers, but your parents refused to speak to me either. They claimed I was ultimately responsible for your death. They held the funeral, since you never changed your will. It's strange how we never did; you would think after the first or second attempt, you would have since you were getting closer to the end. I can't help but think that maybe it was deliberate. Maybe you knew I couldn't throw you the funeral you'd always wanted. Or perhaps you just never cared about me. I don't understand you.

I wasn't allowed to attend, so I watched from a distance as they performed a grand ceremony, one that you probably would have loved since you were all about the presentation of everything. Your mother was dressed in a stuffy black dress that covered every inch of her, and a lacy veil as she sobbed over you. Peach informed me that they held a closed-coffin wake since you didn't look human anymore. After everybody left, I visited your grave and wondered how your final moments looked like, if you ever looked like you... _felt_.

I reexamined my memories, and saw you holding Fortune for the first time and I realize that was probably the first time I'd ever seen you really happy. It was also the first time I'd seen you incredibly sad, like you couldn't believe you'd brought a child into this world, and that later on he'd be exposed to all the horrors and injustices it had to offer. I saw it in the way you cradled him.

But your last words to me were that I was to put the laundry in the dryer.

I deluded myself into thinking that was your way of saying you loved me.

**...**

People like to say white Christmases are miracle-bringers. Santa brings us gifts because we've been good, elves exist, and reindeers fly.

It's so absurd.

A miracle implies that we don't make the effort to bring what we truly want to reality. The reality is that we have to make our own miracles. I think my only miracle that I'd want to happen would be to finally let go of you and realize I can move on without you.

What I should have told Sheik was that I _had_ a wife. She's gone to brave the snow storm, but the right thing to do at this point would be to go after her and tell her that before I lose my nerve.

And maybe I will lose my nerve, maybe I won't. Maybe Sheik and I won't get together, since we are wrong for each other in all the ways that matter. Maybe we will. I open the door and glance outside at the whiteness, at the blank slate of the world, the taste of Kashmiri chai on my lips. I wish you were here with me to see how fresh everything looked.

But Zelda, the New Year is almost upon us, and I don't think I can take you with me. I tell myself that I can't, and make a promise that I won't. I need to stop wondering about every aspect of the life I spent with you, and just accept that you had your reasons and move on. I can't have you with me. At least not in a way that consumes all of me. I take my first steps outside, because damn, I want my mid-life crisis to be over and I have to uphold that to myself. I deserve happiness too.

But I keep my earring on.

**...**

**So, a little bit of an ambiguous ending and I'm going to leave it that way. I know some of you are probably going to be unhappy with the fact that Link A) never "figures" out why Zelda killed herself and B) if he reconciles with Sheik and if they get together. The reasons for that is that A) I think it would be really awful of me to state a specific reason as to why Zelda did it, because I'd be reducing her to a one-dimensional person when she very much is _not_ and B) I think that's up to the reader to decide whether you think Link and Sheik end up together or not based on what you've read. The optimist in me says they will, but the pessimist is like nah, so I decided to leave it up to debate.**

**Sorry for the dreariness of this one. Everything I touch, meant to be lighthearted turns dark lol. Remember when I was so embarrassed about the cheesiness, and look how far we've come since then? Ah well, reviews/follows/etc. are appreciated.**

**Those of you who don't know the significance of Kashmiri Chai, in the Indian subcontinent, this tea is also called Noon Chai. People in Kashmir drink it more than once a day (Indians take their chai very seriously!) Noon in several different Indo-Aryan languages that are _not_ Hindi means "salt" and it is said that dipping your hand in salt means to give a solemn promise. Make of that what you will.**

**(Also, Tune, I hope this is not so cheesy anymore for you lmao)**


	4. Water

**Thank you for your reviews. They've helped me shape this story into something far better than what I'd originally intended.**

**I'm not too confident about this one as much as I was for the last one, but I need to get this done, so have fun with it, I suppose.**

**Edit****: ****Ronana is Nana. Ronana means sealed... as in this story is sealed closed.**

**I'm not going to say what the specific relationship is here because each chapter has revealed that relationships are far more blurry and you'll probably see it here too. Just know that this chapter revolves around Nana and Toon Link.**

* * *

><p>"Fortune," Mom says. "Fortune, wake up. <em>It's snowing<em>."

Don't I know it? Just let me sleep for two minutes. I haven't slept properly ever since it began snowing. This is because I'm still a kid and have never seen snow, so I tend to act like a total doofus around it, even if this hasn't been my year at all. My mom told me that the last time it snowed was when I was two, but obviously I don't remember that.

I slap the voice away. Two more minutes. Besides, I'd just finished cleaning up a woman who'd spilled herself with a drink. A woman in a scarf, who Link had his eye on no less. I'm still not sure why I told her not to give up on him. He's clearly a lost cause.

"Fortune! That's your name, right?" What a strange thing for Mom to say. I'd always harbored the suspicion that she wasn't entirely right in the head once I learned how strange the name was. Of course, I'd never really know how accurate my suspicions were until she'd ended her life last year in May.

Oh, right. That could be another reason why this was strange. Mom was dead; she couldn't be telling me to wake up.

I'm usually good about keeping count who is alive or dead. Like, I know Gramps and Gran are both dead from Link's side and that we never speak to my grandmother and grandfather from my mother's side. The first time I spoke to them and met them was when they invited me to Mom's funeral and Peach took me. They would have been totally nice too if it hadn't been for the stiff upper lip they had when they weren't sobbing over Mom's body.

But in Mom's case, the reminder is constantly there whenever Link and I order Indian take-out for the fourth time in a row, or when I've run out of underwear and have to do the laundry. But on rare occasions, I forget, like now. It's pretty jarring to remember. Jarring enough to wake up.

I crack open an eyelid and there's a girl with brown hair wearing a puffy pink parka eyeing me. "That's your name, right?"

I yawn, uncoiling myself from the bar table. "Everybody usually calls me Toon," I say. It used to be said like, "Tune," but a lot of kids at my school pronounce it as, "Toon," because apparently any sort of expression on my face is far more exaggerated than usual, like a cartoon.

"Toon." The girl tastes it on her tongue. I don't think she goes to Smash High. She probably goes to that prissy Arts Academy next door. "I'm Ronana. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that one of your waiters just ran out on his shift and I think that's unprofessional."

I crack my neck. Yep, totally prissy. "You just caught me sleeping, and you think I'm going to do something about another server's unprofessionalism? Whoever they are probably had a good reason." The staff at Cafe de la Smash were pretty trustworthy about this kind of stuff; I think it had to do with the fact that we paid them a lot more than normal servers. "Besides, I don't work here."

Ronana just gapes at me. She has these coal-black eyes that look a little agitated. "But your dad does! That's your dad, right?" She nods toward Link whose staring at what the girl who just spilled her drink on herself. I think she's Muslim, but I can't be sure. All I know is that my dad seemed to like talking to her.

"Yes, that's him." _Unfortunately._

"So talk to him."

Yeah, right. The day I approach my Link'll be the day I die. I'm sure he'd hardly notice if I died anyway. I'm not really in the mood for this, especially when I have no idea what the heck is going on. "Look, no offense, but I don't see how this concerns you."

She furrows her eyebrows. "You don't get it. That waiter who ran out is _Kai._"

"So?" I actually knew Kai. He was a pretty decent guy, all things considered. A little too smart-mouthed for his own good and too quick too, but good nonetheless.

Ronana throws her hands out, making a dramatic sweep with her hands. "Do you know who _else_ is out there?"

"Considering I was happily unconscious for the past ten minutes..." I trail off.

She makes a frustrated noise. She must think I'm stupid. "Jill Puff."

My face must show that this name doesn't register because she says a moment later as a sort of clarification, "You know, short, kind of chubby and has gorgeous sea-green eyes? You met her about a half hour to an hour ago."

Oh, yeah. The girl who was so nervous she couldn't even string two sentences together properly. That Jill. The Jill who, like the other customers in the shop, could not take her eyes off Kai who we hired a few weeks ago. I guess the only difference between her and the other people in the store was that Kai actually seemed to care about her, though I didn't know the whole story there. Though Jill had a pretty face, I'd seen Kai go out with people who were way more attractive. It probably had to do with her voice, I mused. She had an incredible voice. I'd heard her singing "Silent Night" about fifteen minutes ago and it sounded haunting.

This was evidenced by the fact that he'd cornered me afterward and demanded an explanation as to why I hadn't told him she was here in the first place. "Did you not want her to be here?" I'd frowned at him.

"I was just a little shocked is all," Kai had said. "I don't like surprises." I'd never seen him so shaken when the guys and girls from our school came to drop by for a visit. That's how I knew that Jill had to be somebody pretty important in his life.

Even though I'd only really gotten to know Kai for a few weeks, I'd seen him at school and at work to know that appearances meant everything to him. I suppose it had to do with the fact that his parents doted on him and seemed to care little for anything else but his looks. Ever since then, after carefully observing Kai, I'd begun to notice a trend; he was definitely the kind of person who worked hard on exuding that confidence, or at least trying to make it look like he held it all together.

I couldn't blame him really. Most parents are pretty disappointing when it comes to raising their kids. I haven't met a kid who hasn't been let down by their parents at some point in their life.

Take Link for example. Ever since my mom killed herself, Link's been walking in this kind of daze where he can't seem to realize that his socks don't match or that my voice has started to deepen, and the whole thing is embarrassing, especially since my voice gets high at the most inopportune moments.

"So what about it?" I ask the girl in the pink parka now, once I realize thinking about Link is probably the worst way to spend Christmas Eve. "They seem to like each other. Maybe they need some privacy."

"They _can't_ have privacy," she says back. "Because..." here, she falters, because I'm fairly certain she had an answer that she didn't want to share with me. "Because he's wrong for her."

I roll my eyes. "You must be one of his jealous fan girls. There's always one who secretly wishes they'd marry him."

"I'm not his fan girl," Ronana responds, looking thoroughly scandalized by what I'd just said. "Never in a million years! But Jill's my friend and I don't want that... that _guy_ to play around with her and then devastate her."

"You automatically assume that he will?" I asked. I was sure Kai wouldn't break her heart. He'd confessed to me that witnessing his mom divorcing his dad did a number on him. I don't really seriously date anyone, especially if it's going to threaten a friendship. "How do you know Jill won't be the one to break _his_ heart?" I don't know why I'm being so defensive about Kai. After all, in school we don't really see each other a lot since I've only just started high school, and he's just about to finish it.

Ronana laughs. "She won't. That girl has been devoted to him her whole life and I don't even know why. Like, sure maybe he's really cute, but she's worth so much better than him. She's a great singer, a great student, is incredibly nice... It's actually kind of annoying to hear her go on and on about him."

I've gotten it totally wrong, I realize. The transparency this girl was exhibiting was incredible. "It's actually kind of annoying to hear you go on and on about her."

She stares at me for a long moment, her lips tightly pressed together, as though she wants to respond. Then, her face relaxes and she sighs. "You're right. It is kind of pathetic." She throws a hand out. "I'm normally not like this, you know. I'm supposed to be the rational one in my group of friends, yet here I am, encouraging her to tell her how she feels about him."

"That's... surprising," I say. "You don't have to explain."

Ronana shifts her chair away from me, her gaze wistful. She allows herself a moment before talking again. "It's just really hard to get to know people, let alone fall in love with them."

Well, that confirmed it. "You have feelings for Jill?"

"Got a problem with that?" she glares at me. "A-anyway, I'm not a lesbian if that's what you're thinking. I just happen to get attracted to people who I get close with."

"No homo," I responded. "Got it. If you don't mind me asking, why'd you make Jill confess if _you_ liked her?"

Ronana shrugs. "Is it bad of me to say this? I just never thought Jill had a shot with him. And I thought... well I thought the only way she'd really get over him is if she got rejected by him. That way, I'd be there to pick up the pieces."

I can't tell if she's just really stupid, or she's a diabolical genius. Either way, I'm faintly disgusted. "So you manipulated her for your own benefit?"

"Manipulation is a strong word," Ronana says, but she at least has the courtesy to blush.

Suddenly, it's easier now to see why I thought she was Mom.

**...**

My mother loved snow. You could see the disappointment in her eyes, living in a city that was mostly warm. We gravitate towards the things that we feel most close with, after all. For her, the snow and winter all fit her. You could see it in her glacial eyes. I saw it in the way she always held her chin level, never bowing or caving in, always brittle. Link was always obeying her requests. Toward the end, I could see the toll that took on him; the little flashes of irritation in his eyes when she ordered him around. I wondered if Mom really loved him at all; she was always so cold.

Except when it came to me. I'm not sure why my mother took exception to me. In some ways, I wish she hadn't. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I was her child, fashioned from her own flesh and blood and half of her genetic code.

"Or maybe," Peach, my godmother, liked to say, "you're just too adorable to resist loving." She'd usually tweak my nose afterward and kiss me on the cheek, before bustling off. I know why Peach pays extra attention to me. She thinks I'm alone, an orphan. She is right, of course. "Everybody does."

I doubted it, but I don't have an answer. Love is love and it cannot be explained why we're drawn to the people that we are.

**...**

I take a deep breath. "I still think you manipulated her." I traced the whorls of the rough surface of the bar table.

"What would you know?" Ronana scoffs. She opens her mouth, perhaps to excuse her actions but we're interrupted by the tinkling of the door.

Kai's got Jill's hand in his and he's pulling her inside the warmth of the cafe. Her cheeks are flushed. My gaze shifts to Ronana, who's staring at them, her mouth slightly open. I've seen that expression on her face before on another's; it looks so exhaustingly devastating.

"Well, maybe they're not together," I say. A moment later, Kai draws Jill close to him and places a kiss on her cheek. "Or maybe they are."

Ronana looks away, and there's a bitterness spreading over her face like brittle ice. Her face is full of disbelief. I want to say something more comforting to her, that maybe she did something good and that she made Jill happy, but I can't come up with anything because not matter what, the situation sucks. That's all I can say about it.

"It's okay," I say.

Ronana's shoots me a scornful look. "No, it's not. Shut up."

I ignore her command. "Well, it serves you right anyway. You were being selfish at the expense of your own friend."

"Don't judge me, Toon. I did what was best for her."

I shake my head, annoyed at her stubbornness. "Just admit that you had the wrong intentions."

Ronana grows thoughtful. Her face relaxes as she studies me, as if for the first time. "You must really love this time of year, huh?"

I'm taken aback by the way she's switched the subject so quickly, but I recover quickly. "Yeah, so what?"

"Just that tomorrow is Christmas and it's all about the gift of giving. Isn't that what everybody says Christmas is about?"

"I'm surprised you know what it's about, considering you hardly take any of its teachings to heart."

She ignores that jab. "Maybe you could learn to be a little selfish."

"No. I really couldn't."

**...**

When Mother was still alive, Link treated me like a son, especially during the summer. He claimed he loved the winter, but I think he only really liked it because Mother did, but he truly shone in the summer whenever he took me hiking. He nearly sliced open his thumb trying to carve me a boomerang when I was four. It had worked relatively well too, always coming back eventually. It was one of the more reliable things in my life. I still had the boomerang, but it was currently collecting dust under my bed. It's strange how the most reliable things in our life are also the things we pay the least amount of attention to.

Like how I'd taken Mother for granted until the day she ended her life. I knew I should've been more devastated by her death, but I think what bothered me the most was how much it tore Link apart and how he'd withdrawn into himself, until I saw her death eating him inside out. His blond hair was already starting to gray at the temples and he'd recently taken to growing a stubble.

After she died, he sometimes slept at the cafe. I think it was because the house reminded him too painfully of her. And maybe I did too. Everybody who knew her was always telling me that I acted like her.

But that's not true. I don't think I could bear to leave a gaping, black hole of a scar on anybody's life. Not after looking at Link who was currently wandering through life as if he no longer lived in the present.

I just wanted him to be my dad again.

**...**

"Empty the dishwasher, please." He's not looking at me when he says it, but I'm used to the fact that he no longer bears to look at my face, that the fact that I'm alive and she's dead is unfair to him. I know that the only reason I'm here is because Peach suggested it. Link hardly looks at me anymore. It's like he can't bear to look at me.

Even Ronana picks up on it. "I thought he was your dad."

"He is."

Evidently Ronana is perceptive enough not to press it. Instead, she picks at a splinter of the rough surface of the table, her eyes carefully avoiding Jill and Kai who are are sitting at a table by the window looking out at the blizzard. "Can I ask you something?" she asks, pricking her index finger over and over again with the splinter.

I don't say anything, but she asks anyway. "Do you really think I'm awful?"

"I don't know." I shrug. "You did bring them together after all. You did something good, even if it was for the wrong intentions."

Ronana sneers at this. "Well, your mother raised you right, didn't she?"

I'm suddenly tired of conversation, and I'm especially tired of the way Ronana seems to needle with me. "My mother's dead." I get up abruptly and exit into the kitchen. It's warmer in here. I quickly load the dishwasher with differently shaped glasses. Kai comes in, his cheeks flushed as usual, only this time it's redder.

"Hey man," I say to him, but I think it comes out as a grunt.

"Yo Toon, how's it going?"

I shrug, even though his back is turned to me. He's singing that song that's constantly overplayed on the radio. The one by _The Metroids_ about Samus and Adam. In another two minutes, it'll probably replay in my head over and over again. "Great weather, eh?" he says to me, in-between verses. He's tapping a beat with his foot which means he must be really happy.

"There's a blizzard outdoors," I say.

He turns back to smile at me, and it's this uncontrollable, goofy grin. It's almost infectious. "Yeah, it's really cool, right?"

"If you want to get stuck in a cafe, sure, I guess."

He tuts. "That's not the Christmas spirit, Toon. I'm surprised. I thought you liked the snow."

"I do. I did." I'm not sure.

I'm about to exit the doors when he says suddenly, "Got a question for you, Toon. What does snow turn into when it melts?"

I know it's a riddle. Link told it to me when I could still call him my father. I'm about to answer when the double doors burst open again and Link strides in, a tortured expression on his face. I know he's done something stupid. His face is almost childish. Almost by accident, he looks at me and a long silence stretches out between us.

It's like staring at a mirror that's been obliterated into a million pieces only to be glued back together in ways where the pieces don't quite fit. In twenty years, this is how I'll look, this haggard mess. He stares at me, and it's like he's looking down at me like I'm a stranger, like he can't really see me in him. Maybe that's what we are, just two strangers living in the same house, connected to one woman. It shouldn't be that way, and I'm not sure why it is.

I can't look anymore; I'm too tired. I pass by him, making sure I don't touch him at all; I'm so disappointed by what I see.

"Water," I answer, my voice cracking a little. Damn my puberty, but I don't want to give the real answer.

Outdoors, the woman in the scarf is just about to brave the storm outdoors. There's a defeated look in her eye. She brings up a phone to her ear and I wonder if she'll be back. I find myself inexplicably angry at Link again. This is his fault somehow, I think. It couldn't be any other way. I noticed that when she first entered this shop, she had this intense, angry look in her eyes and now she looks tired, almost exhausted.

Maybe that's what we all are, which is why Christmas is just an excuse to celebrate. Because by the end of the year, we're too jaded to continue on.

Ronana is sitting in her same spot, only now she has a glass of water in front of her that she's halfway through. "You know," she says. "They're saying we all have to remain indoors because of the blizzard. We're probably going to have to be here until at least Christmas. You could try being nice to me."

"I don't think I have it in me," I respond. "Not today." I'm still thinking about the way Link had looked at me. I'd already been nice to Jill today, not to mention the girl in the scarf. I'd been nice to Kai too.

I steal a glance at Peach, but she's on her cell phone. I'm willing to bet she's on the phone with her husband, judging by the way she's talking. The many times I've spent at Peach's house, she and Mario are constantly arguing over small, silly little things like how Mario never wears anything but overalls all the time ("They're _so_ nineties tacky, and not even the good kind!") but ultimately, they still seem a lot more married than Link and Mom ever did.

Ronana slides a hand over mine, forcing my thoughts away. "It's fine, you know. You don't always have to be nice. You seem to think that being selfish is the worst thing in the world, but I'm telling you that sometimes you need it."

I'm about to tell her to stop counseling me on my own life, but when I look up, I know that she's talking about herself. Especially when she continues, "And maybe I was being selfish, but I don't give a damn. Nobody tells you it's okay to ask, or okay to feel or to take advantage even though these are the things that get you ahead in life. You can be those things to and still be a good person."

**...**

It was a hot summer day, and Dad and I were lazing in the lake. I was ten years old. Three years later, Mother would end her life. But for now, Link had been trying to teach me how to fish. He was great at it, catching almost the whole bucket; but I was terrible. Afterwards, we'd laid at the bottom of the old canoe and stared up at the sky, admiring the endless, rich blue of it. Soon, it would be dusk and we'd have to head home to mom who had invited Peach, Douglas (on Link's orders) and Mario for dinner.

There were tons of mosquitos, so it's not exactly comfortable, but the sky was cloudless and the sweat built up on my upper lip. "I can't wait until it's cold again so I don't have to sweat," I told him. I slapped at yet another mosquito and missed. "If only it'd snow," I said wistfully.

"Yeah," he said, but at this point he sounded so unenthusiastic, I know he was just saying that because Mom and I love snow. "But the heat will always win. Snow melts."

I slapped at the mosquito at my neck this time, I was quick enough to have the innards of the insect stuck to my throat and hands, after I killed it.

"Toon, when snow melts, what does it turn into?" he said suddenly.

"Water."

He makes a disappointed sound. "Wrong! You're hardly a poet, Toon. Just like your mother." But when he says it, it's almost a compliment, because he says it so tenderly.

"Snow turns into spring."

**...**

And just like that I know I need to grab my opportunity now. Link's just gone outdoors a second ago, but I can't do this without him. I rush outside and am greeted with snow. Link's touching that stupid earring of his. He still looks like he's lost, but somehow he seems more grounded. Perfect. I reach out, before I can stop myself and take his hand with my gloved ones.

Wind whips at my face and I look at him turn around in surprise so this time when I look at him I try to see past the fact that that could be me in twenty years or so. I look into his eyes which show me he's barely there, barely hanging on, but I don't care. I shout into the howling wind, "Don't leave me." It's one of the hardest things I've ever said in my life because I feel like I've survived an eternity without parents.

I don't know if he heard me, but I could swear he squeezes my hand back. "I promise," he says, but I have to read his lips because his voice is lost to the roaring wind. He takes one step into the snow and I watch him walk away until he's out of sight. I don't know where he's going or why, but I have to trust him. I have to be selfish enough to depend on him.

**...**

"Fine. You can call me Nana," Ronana relents, four months later. We're on spring break and Jill is with us. Nana still seems hesitant on being around her, but I know she's slowly healing. Kai and Jill are still together. They claim that Nana and I were responsible for ultimately bringing them together. Nana never ends up telling Jill how she truly felt.

"It's because you made me feel guilty about what I did," she'd tell me later on when she deemed me good enough friends with her to confide in.

"It only took four months," I say, rolling my eyes. I'd heard Jill calling Ronana, Nana, so many times before but Ronana refused to respond to me whenever I'd called her by that nickname.

"It's okay, it only took me six," Jill assures me, her voice sounding like bells. Since she got together with Kai, she's seemed a lot more confident in her own skin which is a good thing, I suppose.

Nana grins. We sit at the table next to the window and the flowers are slowly starting to bloom. Jill hates spring; she says it gives her bad allergies. And maybe she's right; her nose and eyes seem a lot more watery this time around.

Dad comes in, and he serves Nana and Jill some fruity looking smoothies. For me, it's water. "You're not even supposed to be on break," he says to me, when I glance at him, a little appalled at the way he looks at me. It's true, I'm not. I had my break two hours ago.

We're still not totally comfortable with each other but I feel comfortable enough to call him Dad which I think is progress. It's a sticky situation we're in, navigating around Mother's death in order to forge a relationship, but we're slowly reaching there.

I look out the window at the sun, which is weakly shining toward us. A few minutes later, a woman in a scarf walks in, her steps tentative, almost shy. She hasn't been here in four months. I don't know exactly what happened between her and Dad but she hasn't been back since Christmas Eve. This is the first time. I watch Dad walk over to her.

"Fifty rupees says your dad's gonna bed her," Kai says, behind us.

"That's my dad, Kai," I say, completely grossed out.

"Yeah, besides, I think that girl has more tact than to pursue him," Nana sniffs. "What do you think, Jill?"

Jill shrugs. "I don't know, I guess we can wait and find out."

And maybe we can. After all, we have a few more months of spring left.

Spring is supposed to be the season of healing, the symbol that rebirth is real and happens often if only we're brave enough to believe in miracles, to acknowledge that we're vulnerable, to have the courage to let go of past nightmares, and to admit that it's okay to be selfish once in awhile.

"I bet fifty rupees I'm gonna give you a bloody nose if you keep talking like that," I say, when Kai begins to go into detail about how far Dad'll go with the woman in the scarf.

The others are bantering again, but I feel like I can finally breathe again.

**...**

**WOW IM FINISHED JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME.**

**So we went from cheesy, to not-so-cheesy, to extremely dark, to a little bit cheesy. This concludes my entry. Not sure if I really like the way this ended, but I don't have the time to spare to correct it.**

**First off, thank you to those who read this. But a very special thanks to Tune4Toons, who I've already complimented and stroked her ego like five-million times because, yeah, she's awesome and should win in second place tons of times because she's just that great (and awful too, hence the second place).**

**The next person I've got to thank is MessengerOfDreams who saved my life with this fic so many times and I cannot thank him enough for being such an incredible friend. Seriously guys, he's great and I've always considered it a great honor to be good friends with him. If friendships were based on who deserved what, I doubt I'd deserve him. Fortunately for me, I'm a selfish bastard and got to befriend him because that kind of rule doesn't exist!**

**This story probably wouldn't have happened without them because I've been extremely busy alternating between spending nights in a hospital after somebody very near and dear to me landed there in an emergency for several days, and being closely involved in wedding shortly afterward. WOW. Two very different things that were pulling me in opposite directions. I guess that explains the unevenness of this story... alternating between being extremely cheesy and extremely dark.**

**Ah, well. POINT IS: If you're in a scrape, friendship is great when you have friends like Tune4Toons and MessengerOfDreams. At this point, I don't expect to win because of some of the crap I pulled in this story, not to mention how busy I became towards the last half of this month that made it almost impossible for me to write at all. There are also some really great entries on here that blow mine completely out of the water, so please check 'em out.**

**I have nothing more to say. Why did I pick water? Well, it's simple and not as ornate as the other drinks and that's the kind of note I wanted to end this on. Plus, it's clear, and not opaque at all which is also another theme I wanted to incorporate... Toward the end, I should hope that everybody's intentions and goals were "cleared" up.**

**ALSO IMPORTANT: The riddle "What does snow melt into" or whatever is not owned by me. It's actually something the lovely Natsuki Takaya put in her amazing manga series _Fruits Basket_ which is like, the best manga I've ever read, please don't make fun of it, okay.**

**Now I'm gonna submit this, and let's pray that I have enough time and drive to pick out all the small inconsistencies (THANK YOU CAM FOR BEING A SAINT AND HELPING ME WITH THIS)**

**As always, reviews/follows/favs etc., are ALWAYS welcome. I love reviews, so don't ever be shy to review. Have you ever heard an author say, "I hate u 4 reviewing pls die?" No! Take it from me, we love reviews. And I know y'all are out there.**

**Okay, for good though, I'm gone. Good luck to the other contestants, and may the best entrant win!**

**-Lady Paprika**


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